Experience with Peru consulate in Boston
Today I had bittersweet experience with Peru consulate in Boston. It all began with us friends planning a trip to Peru for this new year. We had Costa-rica as one of the destinations on our list. As it turns out, Indian citizens do not need visa to enter Costa-rica, so we directed our attention to Peru
Even though our trip was 6 months away, it's wise not to take visa matters lightly as they can ruin everything in the end if not done properly and in timely manner. So I sent an email to Peru consulate couple of weeks back. Never got a response back. I called them last Friday and unfortunately line went to Spanish language. There was an option to choose an English language, but it did not lead anywhere.
This necessitated me to make a visit to Peru consulate in Boston. It was not too much work since my office was just 10 minutes walk from it and I hoped it would be quick. Having failed at email and telephonic communication, this was the only option I had to move forward with.
However, as it turns out my plan was not really good. I was stopped at security checkpoint since I did not have an official appointment with consulate. This restricted my access only till the door. Now I was in chicken and egg situation. Turns out, the security personnel was nice and he acknowledged my trouble. He had another document with updated phone number and email of consulate. No wonder all these days when I was trying to reach consulate, my communication went unanswered.
Feeling good, I exited the building and called the mentioned number. Initially, the phone was picked up by Spanish speaker, but was soon transferred to an English speaker, to whom I explained my problem. He was nice enough to hear me and politely asked me to send further questions through email since according to officials, telephone was not a proper communication to ask such routine queries.
I requested him to get information on only one questions - Do Citizens of India holding US work visa need visa to enter Peru for tourism purpose. His answers saved me countless hours and hard work that would otherwise have been wasted had I not have this information. He acknowledged the fact which I had little known from scarce online resources that, satisfying all the above conditions, I do not need visa to enter Peru for tourism purpose.
I thanked him and got off the call with all the necessary documents and passport still in my backpack. I was relieved, cause it always makes me nervous to go through visa application process no matter which country. Frankly, Peruvian visa official were nice. To be fair to them, they must be swamped with their work to not send reply to my earlier email communication. However Peru consulate website,
- Should at least have updated their phone number
- Should try to provide website in multiple language versions
- Automated telephone system should support multiple languages
- Make it easy for applicants to schedule an appointment through website
- Make more people available on phone line to answer any potential queries from people. Not all people are going to know all about email communications
- Should have an easy to navigate interface so that people with any country of citizenship would be able to verify if they indeed need visa to make an entry
To summarize, Indian citizens holding valid US work visa with validity beyond 6 months do not need visa to enter Peru as per the updated agreement in March - 2017 and executed in June - 2017
For people who are planning apply for Peruvian visa, here are the most recent and up-to-date details on how to contact Peru consulate in Boston.
Hopefully they will be able to redirect you to appropriate offices if your primary location does not fall in Boston)
Phone
(857) 265 - 5995
Email
consuladogeneral@conperboston.com
Address
The Consulate of Peru,
Park Plaza Building,
20 Park Plaza,
Boston, MA.
References:
llivingon on Peru visa for Indian citizens
